* 'The greatest threat against the world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons,' he warned* It 'could happen if the deal that is being negotiated is accepted by Iran'* Netanyahu interrupted by applause 41 times, but no member of the Obama administration attended the event* John Kerry, the US secretary of state, is negotiating that deal in Switzerland * 'Iran has proven time and time again that it cannot be trusted,' Netanyahu insisted* Susan Rice admitted Monday that 'some' Israel backers won't get behind an agreement with Iran that doesn't require it to cease its enrichment program* 'As desirable as that would be, it is neither realistic nor achievable,' she said

WASHINGTON—Arab governments are privately expressing their concern to Washington about the emerging terms of a potential deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program, according to Arab and U.S. officials involved in the deliberations.

The direction of U.S. diplomacy with Tehran has added fuel to fears in some Arab states of a nuclear-arms race in the region, as well as reviving talk about possibly extending a U.S. nuclear umbrella to Middle East allies to counter any Iranian threat.

WNU Editor: I do not know what is in the mind of the Saudi leadership .... but my gut is telling me that if Iran gets the deal that the Saudis think they will get .... I expect the Saudi Arabian government to start pursuing their own nuclear program .... and nuclear nonproliferation .... as we know it .... will be over.

Iran has rejected as "excessive and illogical" a demand by US President Barack Obama that it freeze sensitive nuclear activity for at least 10 years.Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was quoted saying Mr Obama spoke in "unacceptable and threatening" terms.Mr Zarif said talks on Iran's nuclear programme, which are nearing a critical 31 March deadline, would continue.

WNU Editor: There has been no comment from the White House with the exception of stating that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are meeting for a second day in Switzerland to discuss the status of Tehran’s nuclear program.

More News On Iran Rejecting President Obama's Demand For A 10 Year Nuclear Freeze

Former CIA director and retired general David Petraeus gives the sign for ''fight on'', the motto of the University of Southern California, speaks as the keynote speaker at the university's annual dinner for veterans and ROTC students, in Los Angeles, California March 26, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Alex Gallardo/Files

WASHINGTON — David H. Petraeus, the best-known military commander of his generation, has reached a plea deal with the Justice Department that will allow him to avoid an embarrassing trial over whether he provided classified information to a mistress when he was the director of the C.I.A.Mr. Petraeus will plead guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison. Mr. Petraeus has signed the agreement, said Marc Raimondi, a Justice Department spokesman.

WNU Editor: I will be shocked if he has to serve time .... but if it was anyone else .... yes .... prison time would probably be the result. Considering what he did .... he is getting off light.

More News On Former CIA Director Petraeus Pleading Guilty To Federal Charges

Al Jazeera reporter says troops have seized towns and villages along the way to Tikrit, capital of Salahuddin province.

Iraqi forces have continued their offensive to retake the city of Tikrit, seized by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) last June, with troops claiming "gains" in the fighting, security forces told Al Jazeera's correspondent.

Citing state media and security sources, Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said an ISIL leader for south Tikrit had been killed and that other ISIL officials had retreated through Huweijah and on into the Hamreen mountains.

The biggest offensive against ISIS so far happened without American help—but with plenty of assistance from Iran.The Iraqi military launched a major campaign to take back a key city from the self-proclaimed Islamic State over the weekend—a move that caught the U.S. “by surprise,” in the words of one American government official.The U.S.-led coalition forces that have conducted seven months of airstrikes on Iraq’s behalf did not participate in the attack, defense officials told The Daily Beast, and the American military has no plans to chip in.

Washington (CNN)The Obama administration is bracing for Benjamin Netanyahu to spill secret details of Iran nuclear talks, as both camps traded last-minute political jabs ahead of the Israeli prime minister's controversial address to Congress at 11 a.m. EST on Tuesday.

The White House is uncertain what precise details may come out but aides spent Monday frantically mobilizing after Israeli officials said that the prime minister planned to disclose sensitive details of an agreement taking shape in talks between six world powers and Iran, which has entered a delicate final stage.

WASHINGTON — The Afghan Army lost more than 20,000 fighters and others last year largely because of desertions, discharges and deaths in combat, according to figures to be released Tuesday, casting further doubt on Afghanistan’s ability to maintain security without help from United States-led coalition forces.

The nearly 11 percent decline from January to November 2014, to roughly 169,000 uniformed and civilian members from 190,000, is now an issue of deep concern among some in the American military. For example, the former No. 2 American commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, called the rate of combat deaths unsustainable before he departed at the end of last year.

WNU Editor: This is how you lose wars. What also does not help the situation is that apparently the Afghan Army numbers are inflated .... Report: Afghan National Army Numbers Inflated (UN Tribune). Do I smell corruption .... the U.S. has spent $50 billion in building up the Afghan Army .... and this is the end result?!?!?!

A Navy SEAL captain and former commander of a special operations team in Yemen said in a recent interview that a U.S. counterterrorism approach there reliant on drone strikes and special operations raids is a "fantasy."

"The solution that some people champion where the main or whole effort is drone strikes and special operations raids — is a fantasy," said Capt. Robert Newson in a Feb. 27 piece in the CTC Sentinel, published by the U.S. Military Academy's Combating Terrorism Center.

WNU Editor: The full transcript of this interview is here. What is my take .... Yemen is a significant U.S. counter-terrorism strategy failure .... and no one in the government is acknowledging it.

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state, State Department officials said, and may have violated federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record.

Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act.

It was only two months ago, in response to a new State Department effort to comply with federal record-keeping practices, that Mrs. Clinton’s advisers reviewed tens of thousands of pages of her personal emails and decided which ones to turn over to the State Department. All told, 55,000 pages of emails were given to the department. Mrs. Clinton stepped down from the secretary’s post in early 2013.

WNU Editor: She is trouble. This is a serious violation of the law (see the above video) .... now the question is .... will she be held accountable for it. It also makes me wonder on who else has secret email accounts in the Obama administration .... and what are in those emails. On a side note .... General and former CIA Director Petraeus is being investigated by the US Justice Department for doing exactly the same thing. Politically .... in the Democrat field there is probably a growing realization that maybe she is not a lock for the nomination .... so do not be surprised if in the next few weeks we are going to see movement there.

U.S. allies are raising concerns about what they say is unwillingness on the part of the Obama administration to share vital intelligence that could prove decisive in conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that U.S. officials degrade satellite images of the positions of Russian-backed separatists before delivering them to Ukrainian forces, delaying their arrival and making them less effective for combating the rebels. The United States also provided the Ukrainian military with short-range counter-artillery radar systems but omitted crucial components that would have enabled the Ukrainians to immediately respond to separatist attacks.

WNU Editor: These are the countries and organizations that are voicing their concerns, it would not surprise me if there are others who are also impacted but are still keeping quiet.

* Fighter jet F-35B's internal weapons bay is too small for a Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) load
* Though it's mandated that an F-35B hold eight SDB IIs in the bay, only four can reportedly fit
* A F-35 program spokesman has said changes are being made so the fighter jet can be released on schedule
* The SDB II can employ a number of techniques - including imaging infrared, laser, and radar homing - to hit targets
* The F-35 program will cost an estimated $590billion over the next decade
* F-35B is slated to be used by the British Royal Navy on the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier

More News On The F-35 Not Being Able To Carry A Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) Load Until 2022

(Bloomberg) -- China is developing space technologies aimed at blocking U.S. military communications and destroying its ability to win conflicts, according to a report commissioned by a panel created by the U.S. Congress.

“China’s improving space capabilities have negative-sum consequences for U.S. military security,” the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation said in the report. Its progress requires “the U.S. to prepare to confront an adversary possessing space and counter-space technologies.”

(Bloomberg) -- Iraq is deploying 27,000 troops to retake the city of Tikrit from Islamic State, in a mission that will test the military’s ability to stage major offensives against the group before trying to capture its stronghold in Mosul.

Shiite militias are backing up police and army soldiers, according to state-run al-Iraqiyah television. Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, arrived two days ago to “review and advise” Iraqi field commanders, the Fars news agency reported on Monday.

Monday, March 2, 2015

US 173rd Airborne Brigade Commander Michael Foster said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC said the US would deploy personnel by the end of this week to train the Ukrainian national guard.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will deploy personnel by the end of this week to train the Ukrainian national guard, US 173rd Airborne Brigade Commander Colonel Michael Foster said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC on Monday.

Inflation is a disease that can wreck a society, Milton Friedman, the late Nobel laureate economist, once said. Add rising unemployment to the diagnosis, and his profession ascribes a rather non-technical term to the debilitating effect on people: misery.

That affliction this year will be most acute in Venezuela, Argentina, South Africa, Ukraine and Greece — the five most painful economies in which to live and work, according to Bloomberg survey data that make up the so-called misery index for 2015. (It's a simple equation: unemployment rate + change in the consumer price index = misery.)

WNU Editor: here is my prediction .... Ukraine will be in competition with Venezuela for the top spot by the end of the year.

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu clashed over Iran nuclear diplomacy on Monday on the eve of the Israeli prime minister’s hotly disputed address to Congress, underscoring the severity of U.S.-Israeli strains over the issue.Even as the two leaders professed their commitment to a strong partnership and sought to play down the diplomatic row, they delivered dueling messages – Netanyahu in a speech to pro-Israeli supporters and Obama in an interview with Reuters – that hammered home their differences on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

WNU Editor: They do not see eye-to-eye on how to curtail Iran's nuclear program, and while President Obama is correct when he says the following .... Barack Obama: Iran nuclear deal will not destroy Israel relations (The Telegraph) .... relations between the current White House administration of President Obama and the current Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu are in "the toilet".

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that Iran should commit to a verifiable freeze of at least 10 years on its nuclear activity for a landmark atomic deal to be reached, but said the odds were still against sealing a final agreement.In an interview with Reuters at the White House, Obama said that a rift over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech to Congress opposing the Iran deal on Tuesday was a distraction that would not be "permanently destructive" to U.S. Israeli ties.

Ruth Margalit, Slate:Why Does Bibi Do It?
The real reason Netanyahu is willing to risk Israel’s relationship with the U.S.

World leaders have long racked up points at home for being antagonistic toward the United States. Hugo Chavez called Barack Obama “a clown” and “an embarrassment.” Vladimir Putin routinely riles against American hypocrisy. Evo Morales has blasted “North American imperialism.” Their approval ratings soared. In Israel, however, this was never the case. Historically, Israel’s bond with the U.S. has always been its most valued strategic asset. Even as relations between the countries’ leaders frayed in recent years, Israelis have been steadfast in their belief that America has their back. Asked this past December about the importance of the country’s relations with the U.S., 96 percent of Israelis deemed it extremely important

About Me

I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.